she stopped by back here and let us know what was going on.”
She hadn’t even seen Leigh at the store, but then she’d been a little distracted.
“Sela!” Carol bellowed again.
“I hear you!” Sela bellowed back, because it had been that kind of night.
A shocked silence came from the bedroom, and Olivia rolled her eyes. “You’ve done it now,” she said in a stage whisper as she headed toward Carol’s bedroom. Sela trudged after her, knowing Carol had to be soothed before they could do the necessary chores to get the water heater working, but she was almost at the end of her tether.
“We didn’t know anything was going to happen,” she growled as she entered the bedroom.
Carol’s eyes widened at Sela’s appearance, and perhaps also at her uncharacteristic surliness. “You’re hurt,” she whispered, her hand going to her mouth.
“It’s just a couple of little nicks, I promise. The store doesn’t have a window left, though.”
“Sela gave Mr. Parsons the finger,” Olivia announced.
Sela’s face got hot, though she was grateful to Olivia for deflecting Carol’s attention away from the danger they’d been in; she just wished it wasn’t her own bad behavior that had been brought to the forefront. “I was stressed,” she muttered.
Olivia curled up beside Carol on the bed, rested her head against Carol’s shoulder. “I’m not sorry I sneaked out, Gran. If I hadn’t, Sela might be dead. She needed me, and y’all wouldn’t have let me go if I’d asked.”
Carol opened her mouth, then shut it. Perhaps she was trying to think what she could do beyond scolding them both, but she also had to admit that, faced with a difficult decision, they’d done the best they could and had succeeded in keeping the gas safe.
“You’d have been there with us if you’d been able,” Sela pointed out.
“That’s true,” Barb said, coming into the room with Nancy, who was putting on her coat. “Don’t even try to say you wouldn’t.”
“I have to get home and feed my bunch,” Nancy said, “but I want to put in my two cents’ worth before I leave. I’m proud of you, Sela, and you, too, Olivia. The two of you saved the gasoline for us. I’m grateful neither of you were hurt—or at least not hurt very much—and anytime you need backup you just let me know.”
Nancy left, and Barb said, “I don’t know about all of you, but I could use a cup of coffee and more breakfast than usual. Worrying burns up calories, you know.”
Sela remembered everything she had to do before she could crash. “I’m going to start the generator and the well pump, if I can figure out how, and get the water heater going. I think we all deserve a nice hot shower.”
“Fine for you to say, at least you can get in the shower,” Carol grumbled, looking at her splinted and elevated leg.
“If you want one, we can put a chair in the shower and get you in and out,” Barb said stoutly. “As for turning on the well pump, I can help with that, too. We old people used to have to do stuff like that all the time. We were constantly having trouble with our pump. Likely we’ll have to have a couple of buckets of water to prime it and get it going.”
Sela almost cried in gratitude that someone knew what to do. She’d been expecting to go the trial-and-error route, which would take time she so desperately needed for rest.
However long Carol had intended to scold them, those plans went by the wayside when faced with Sela’s cut face, Olivia’s statement of why she’d sneaked out, and the prospect of a hot shower. There was also the matter of flipping Ted Parsons the bird, which Sela suspected would be brought up later, amid a lot of teasing.
Barb insisted they would all feel better after they’d had something to eat, and she was right; the food and a cup of coffee didn’t exactly energize her, but with Barb’s help Sela was able to do what needed to be done to get water running. Then she turned on the water heater, and listened to the satisfying snaps and pops as the heating unit began heating water. Olivia stood next to a lamp and turned it on, staring in pleasure at the glow of the electric light. “Can we do this once a month?” she asked wistfully.
“Maybe. No promises, though.” Once a month would be heavenly, but who knew what the future held? “I’ll